Lisa Kowalchuk
Associate Professor
College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, Guelph Institute of Development Studies, Sociology & Anthropology
About
Lisa Kowalchuk received her B.A. in Sociology at McMaster University, her M.A. in Sociology from McGill University, and her Ph.D. in Sociology from York University. She taught for four years at St. Mary's University in Halifax before joining U of Guelph in July 2004.
Her most recent research is a public sociology project on high-rise renters and household waste in the community of St. James Town, Toronto, with an environmental justice lens. Her past projects have focused on the labour conditions of nurses in El Salvador and Nicaragua, and social movements in El Salvador related to land reform and neoliberal health-care restructuring. Issues of gender justice in the developing country context are another area of interest, and have been a theme of several courses she has taught.
Select Publications & Achievements
Journal articles
Kowalchuk, Lisa. 2022. “Deploying digital communication to research social capital and resilience in a high-rise-based, low income community.” Sage Research Methods Cases: Doing Research Online. Deploying Digital Communication to Research Social Capital and Resilience in a Highrise-Based, Low-Income Community
Kowalchuk, Lisa. 2019. “Some Complexities of Seeking Access for Ethnographic Research in Health-Care Institutions.” Sage Open. April-June: 1-10. Some Complexities of Seeking Access for Ethnographic Research in Health-Care Institutions
Kowalchuk, Lisa. 2018. “Patriarchy, New Left Post-Neoliberalism, and the Valuing of Care Work: The Labor Conditions of Nicaraguan Nurses under Sandinismo's 'Second Stage.'" Latin America Research Review 53(4):741-56.
Kowalchuk, Lisa. 2017.“Obstacles to Nurses’ Labour Militancy in Central America: Toward a Framework for Cross-National Comparison of Nurses’ Collective Action.” Labor Studies Journal. October 31. Obstacles to Nurses’ Labor Militancy in Central America: Toward a Framework for Cross-National Comparison of Nurses’ Collective Action
Book chapters
Kowalchuk, Lisa, and Cynthia Levine-Rasky. 2020. “Introduction” in We Resist: Defending the Common Good in Hostile Times. McGill-Queen’s University Press, pp. 3-26.
Kowalchuk, Lisa, and Cynthia Levine-Rasky. 2020. “Grassroots and Interfaith: A Foundation for Activism?” in We Resist: Defending the Common Good in Hostile Times. McGill-Queen’s University Press, pp. 269-277.
Edited monograph
Kowalchuk, Lisa and Cynthia Levine-Rasky. 2020. We Resist: Defending the Common Good in Hostile Times. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Reports
Kowalchuk, Lisa, Trisha Einmann, Harris Ali, Aravind Joseph, and Alaa Mohamed. 2024. Bringing Down the Trash: Problems and Possibilities for Waste Diversion and Reduction in Rental High-Rises in St. James Town, Toronto.
Kowalchuk, Lisa. 2021. “Weathering the Storm: Community Social Capital and the COVID-19 Crisis in St. James Town, Toronto.” A report prepared for the St. James Town Service Providers’ Network (SJTSPN), The St. James Town Community Corner (The Corner), and Health Access St. James Town (HASJT). Weathering the Storm
LaTouche, Rachel, Lisa Kowalchuk, and Rochelle Wijisingha. 2020. (Re)Prioritizing Pedagogic Feedback: Faculty Experiences with Qualitative Comments from Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs). A report prepared for the Canadian Sociological Association. (Re)Prioritizing Pedagogic Feedback
Other
Kowalchuk, Lisa. 2020. “St. James Town Storeys,” a 5-episode podcast showcasing how residents of this Toronto neighbourhood coped with the first six months of the COVID pandemic. St. James Town Storeys
Graduate Student Supervision
- Anthony Lenarduzzi - MA.SOC:L + IDEV
- Karenna Ottywill - MA.SOC:L